Nifty above 5900, BSE Sensex flat; metals, realty lead

3:40 pm Market closing: It was a subdued session on Dalal Street. After some profit booking earlier during the session, both the Sensex and Nifty end the day on a flat note. The Sensex ended 0.35 points at 19997.45, and the Nifty closed up 16.40 points or 0.28 percent at 5913.15.

About 1409 shares have advanced, 926 shares declined, and 160 shares are unchanged.

3:20 pm FII view: Despite the stellar recovery seen in equities, Steve Brice of Standard Chartered Bank says FIIs continue to approach the Indian market with caution. He says there is much more optimism domestically with the change of guard at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

''The fundamentals are much better in comparison to the 1991 crisis. That environment just needed that circuit break to lead it to a very sharp rally from oversold levels,'' he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

On the global markets, he says that Syrian issue may not have the kind of impact as compared to the news flow from other Middle Eastern nations. More than Syrian crisis, there will be other news that will be significant factors for the markets going forward, he adds.

The market is flat as the Sensex is up 2.55 points or 0.01 percent at 19999.65. The Nifty is at 5912.90, up 16.15 points. About 1332 shares have advanced, 882 shares declined, and 154 shares are unchanged.

02:59pm Banks on fire Allahabad Bank , Andhra Bank , Bank of Baroda , Canara Bank , Dena Bank , Bank of India , IOB , PNB , OCB, Syndicate Bank , UCO Bank and Union Bank rallied 6-10 percent. Among private banks, Axis Bank , DCB , Federal Bank , ING Vysya Bank , IndusInd Bank , Karnataka Bank and Karur Vysya Bank gained 3-8 percent.

L&T gained another 1 percent today on top of a 7 percent rally in previous session. Barclays has a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 970. The brokerage house expects Rs 27,000 crore of order inflows in second quarter of FY14, 29 percent year-on-year. Goldman Sachs on Tuesday added the stock to its conviction buy list.

02:59pm Banks on fire Allahabad Bank , Andhra Bank , Bank of Baroda , Canara Bank , Dena Bank , Bank of India , IOB , PNB , OCB, Syndicate Bank , UCO Bank and Union Bank rallied 6-10 percent.

Among private banks, Axis Bank , DCB , Federal Bank , ING Vysya Bank , IndusInd Bank , Karnataka Bank and Karur Vysya Bank gained 3-8 percent.

L&T gained another 1 percent today on top of a 7 percent rally in previous session. Barclays has a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 970. The brokerage house expects Rs 27,000 crore of order inflows in second quarter of FY14, 29 percent year-on-year. Goldman Sachs on Tuesday added the stock to its conviction buy list.

Jaiprakash Associates jumped more than 5 percent as the deal to sell its Gujarat cement plant with the capacity of 4.8 million tonne per annum is likely to be announced today at 6 pm, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

02:29pm The market recovered quite sharply from its day's low on the back of appreciation in rupee, supported largely by banks. The Sensex is down 78.84 points at 19918.26, and the Nifty is down 12.75 points at 5884. State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, rallied nearly 3 percent while its rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rebounded with 0.2 percent gains.

Metals shares also extended their gains in afternoon trade. Aluminium major Hindalco Industries surged 4.5 percent while Tata Steel jumped 3.5 percent. However, Tata Motors is the top loser with a 2.6 percent decline. FMCG majors ITC and HUL declined 1.5 percent each. Meanwhile, the rupee gained 61 paise to 63.23 against the US dollar, continuing its upmove for the fifth consecutive session today. It has been gained more than 400 paise in five sessions.

1:50 pm Management speaks: The National Aluminium Company (Nalco)  expects to produce aluminium to the tune of 3.5 lakh tonne in the current financial year, somewhat exceeding its guidance of 3-3.2 lakh tonnes.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Ansuman Das, CMD, Nalco says after signing the FSA with Coal India , it has secured supply of coal till 2018. Despite falling rupee the company has not been able to increase aluminium price as the prices are linked to the London Metal Exchange (LME).

1:35 pm Market outlook: The Indian economy seems to be turning a corner as there lots of visible signs of recovery , says Nilesh Shah of Axis Direct. However, he says, the short-term trend of the market remains uncertain as the market is moving from an "ouch effect to a wow effect" and every news in such an environment gets exaggerated.

"Clearly there are signs of recovery that are visible and obviously a lot needs to be done to ensure that this recovery kind of gets strengthen and it continues. The fear on the currency market has also receeded significantly. Steps taken by RBI has ensured that the currency instead of falling like a stone is now behaving in a far more orderly fashion and is on its way to recovery rather than crashing. So fundamentals have changed and that is why it is reflected into the marke," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

1:20 pm Buzzers: KEC International shares rise more than 5 percent after the RPG group company received orders worth Rs 1,004 crore. The infrastructure company has secured orders in its transmission, cables, telecom and power systems cables businesses.

The market snapped their four-day rally as profit booking seeped in. The Sensex is down 209.19 points or 1.05 percent at 19787.91, and the Nifty is below 5850 at 5838.10, down 58.65 points or 0.99 percent.

About 1106 shares have advanced, 917 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged. Banking, oil & gas, auto and FMCG are very weak in afternoon trade. JP Associates is likely to announce deal with UltraTech Cement today. It will sell it's 4.8 million tonne cement plant in Gujarat. The deal value is seen at over Rs 3,700 crore.

Meanwhile, it's a volatile session for the currency. The rupee recouped losses as exporters sold dollars but weakness in equities and likely dollar demand from foreign banks and importers are keeping gains in check.

The market lost marginal gains in morning trade on profit booking. The Sensex is down 70.61 points at 19926.49, and the Nifty is down 22.50 points at 5874.25.

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company shares are locked at 10 percent upper circuit after it received USFDA approval for a drug used to treat Epilepsy. The size of the drug is USD 85 million. This is the first time that the company has received an NDA approval from the US.

10:04 am Market check: The market is extremely volatile as the Sensex is down 20.15 points or 0.10 percent at 19976.95, and the Nifty is down 8.25 points or 0.14 percent at 5888.50. About 730 shares have advanced, 445 shares declined, and 58 shares are unchanged.

9:53 am Market check: The bulls are back again taking the Sensex higher up after a tepid opening. The Sensex is up 28.47 points or 0.14 percent at 20025.57, and the Nifty too breaches 5904.20 up 7.45 points or 0.13 percent. About 711 shares have advanced, 407 shares declined, and 50 shares are unchanged.

9:40 am Market opinion: Prabhat Awasthi of Nomura is betting on Infosys  and Bharat Forge . "In IT services, we are adding Infosys to bolster our overweight call on the sector. In pharma, we are replacing Jubilant Life with Lupin . In autos, we are adding Bharat Forge. For our top five stocks picks in our coverage, we are replacing M&M and ICICI Bank with RIL and NTPC . Our new list of top five picks include HCL Technologies , Dr Reddys Labs , Reliance Industries , NTPC and Zee Entertainment," he said.

9:30 am Movers and losers: Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco , Tata Steel , Jindal Steel , Sesa Goa are top gainers in the Sensex. On the losing side are ITC , ICICI Bank, HUL , HDFC Bank and L&T. Tata Motors which saw a massive gain yesterday lost 2 percent in early morning trade. Overall, banking, capital goods, oil and gas and FMCG stocks are reeling under selling pressure while metals is still holding up.